Agenda item

The Committee received a report of the Corporate Director of Resources which presented the annual review of the system of Internal Audit for consideration and comment. The report set out the outcome of the annual review of the effectiveness of the internal audit service (for copy see file of Minutes).

Councillor A Watson reiterated T Henderson’s thanks to the team for all their hard work throughout 2023/24.

Mr I Rudd remarked that it had been a busy year.  He noted in the report that there were several employees within the team who had more than ten years experience and queried if there would eventually be a recruitment crisis if staff retired or left.

T Henderson explained that following her appointment she introduced a Workforce Development Plan and made changes to the staffing structure which has created career pathways and generated opportunities to recruit and retain staff.  At present there was only one member of staff that would soon be 55 years of age and therefore she did not envision a recruitment crisis in the near future.  She acknowledged that service delivery continued to be challenging as everyone was extremely busy, however the more experienced staff continued to share their knowledge and skills with junior members of staff to broaden their knowledge base.  She also advised that staff were provided training on a regular basis.

Resolved:

That the findings and conclusions of the 2023/24 review of the effectiveness of the system of Internal Audit contained within the report be noted.